B2B Brand Management_4 pdf

26 Philippe Malaval, Strategy and Management of Industrial Brands: Business to Business Products and Services, 2001, pp.. 54 Philippe Malaval, Strategy and Management of Industrial Brand

25 David Armstrong, “A Whole New Magic Carpet Ride: SFO up and

Ready for 2006 Arrival of Airbus A380,” San Fransisco Chronicle (27

January 2005)

26 Philippe Malaval, Strategy and Management of Industrial Brands: Business

to Business Products and Services, 2001, pp 18-21; Robert P Vitale and Joseph J Giglierano, Business to Business Marketing: Analysis and Practice

in a Dynamic Environmen, 2002, p 62

27 David Armstrong, “A Whole New Magic Carpet Ride: SFO up and

Ready for 2006 Arrival of Airbus A380,” San Fransisco Chronicle (27

January 2005)

28 “EU, U.S Duel over Plane Subsidies,” USA Today (30 May 2005)

29 David Armstrong, “A Whole New Magic Carpet Ride: SFO up and

Ready for 2006 Arrival of Airbus A380,” San Fransisco Chronicle (27

January 2005)

30 “SIA Reveals The ‘First To Fly’ Logo For Its A380,” Singapore Airlines Ltd., News release (5 January 2005)

31 Web site of Klueber Germany, cited June 2005

32 Mirko Caspar, Achim Hecker, and Tatjana Sabel, “Markenrelevanz in der Unternehmensfuehrung – Messung, Erklaerung und empirische Befunde fuer B2B-Maerkte”, 2002, p 7; David A Aaker and Erich Joa-

chimsthaler, Brand Leadership, 2000, p ix

33 Waldemar Pfoertsch and Michael Schmid, M., B2B-Markenmanagement: Konzepte – Methoden – Fallbeispiele, 2005, pp 12-13

34 James C Anderson and James A Narus, Business Market Management: Understanding, Creating, and Delivering Value, p 15

35 Waldemar Pfoertsch and Michael Schmid, M., B2B-Markenmanagement: Konzepte – Methoden – Fallbeispiele, 2005, pp 12–13

36 Ibid

37 Herman R Hochstadt, „Chairman’s Letter,“ NOL Review 1998.

38 “APL Web Site Makes Hot 100 For Fourth Year Running,” APL Ltd.

Press release (18 September 2003)

39 Unni Einemo, “AP Møller-Maersk and P&O Nedlloyd in Merger Talks,”

Bunkerworld.com (10 May 2005)

40 Richard A D’Aveni, Hypercompetition, 1994, pp 217-218

41 Shona L Brown and Kathleen M Eisenhardt, Competing on the Edge, 1998; Richard A D’Aveni, Hypercompetition, 1994, pp 217-220; Gary Hamel, Leading the Revolution, 2000

42 “Technology Product Life Cycle,” White Paper, Myxa Corporation.

43 Web site of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, cited June 2005; Web site of Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, cited June 2005

44 Peter de Legge, “The Brand Version 2.0: Business-to-Business Brands in

the Internet Age,” Marketing Today, 2002

45 Axel Hoepner, „Siemens hat bei Handys den Anschluss an die

Welt-spitze verloren,“ heise mobil (6 June 2005); „Siemens warnt vor schaeden durch Handy-Ausschaltmelodie,“ heise mobil (26 August 2004)

Hoer-46 Georgina Prodhan and Baker Li, “BenQ to Take over Siemens’ Mobile Unit,” Reuters.com (7 June 2005)

47 Web site of SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany, cited June 2005

48 Web site of Magna International Inc., Canada, cited June 2005

49 Mirko Caspar, Achim Hecker, and Tatjana Sabel, “Markenrelevanz in der Unternehmensfuehrung – Messung, Erklaerung und empirische Befunde fuer B2B-Maerkte,” 2002, pp 23-26

50 ERP, CRM and SCM stands for Enterprise Resource Planning System, Customer Relationship Management, and Supply Chain Management Systems

51 Mirko Caspar, Achim Hecker, and Tatjana Sabel, “Markenrelevanz in der Unternehmensfuehrung – Messung, Erklaerung und empirische Befunde fuer B2B-Maerkte,” 2002, pp 4

52 Ibid., pp 38-43

53 Ibid., pp 38-43

54 Philippe Malaval, Strategy and Management of Industrial Brands: Business

to Business Products and Services, 2001, pp 18 -28

55 Ibid., p 5-6

56 Scott M Davis, “The power of the brand,” Strategy & Leadership (28

April 2000, Vol 28, No 4), pp 4-9

57 Scott Bedbury, A New Brand World, 2002, p 5

58 Bob Lamons, “Brick Brand’s Mighty – Yours Can Be, Too,” Marketing News (22 November 1999), p 16; Web site of Acme Brick Company, Fort

Worth, TX, cited June 2005

59 Web site of Tata Steel Ltd., Fort, Mumbai, India, cited October 2005

60 Gary Strauss, “The corporate jet: Necessity or ultimate executive toy?,”

USA Today (25 April 2005)

61 D.J, Buller, Adapting Minds Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature, Cambridge MA: MIT Press 2005

62 Some strong brands such as Intel are not mentioned, which could have happened because they are not on the client list of Saatchi and Saatchi Nevertheless, Intel should be mentioned because many software and electrical component engineers love to work with Intel chips

63 Web site of Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, IL, cited August 2005

B2B Branding Dimensions

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Marketing Management in an industrial context became widely cepted years ago – leading to the establishment of several B2B mar-keting professorships of B2B marketing in the United States This was in response to competitive pressures and a fast-changing envi-ronment that forced businesses to become more customer-focused Many B2B organizations recognized that by adapting the concepts and practices of consumer companies to the B2B setting, they could benefit in the same way as their B2C counterparts

ac-Unfortunately, the subject of branding was overlooked in most cases In recent years a large number of books dedicated to business marketing have appeared A very profound and valuable book in

this area is Business Market Management by Andersen and Narus In

their second edition, they added new sections devoted to brands and brand building, thereby acknowledging that these are concepts

of growing interest in business markets.1 We are willing to go even further: Branding should be the thread running through the subject

of marketing

To regard brand management merely as naming, design or tising seems to be too superficial and tends to shorten the brand’s life expectancy If a company wants to take full advantage of its brands as strategic devices, it needs to be prepared to carry out a

adver-considerable amount of marketing analysis and brand planning However, many businesses are too busy with tactical issues and thus fail to generate the best possible results for their brands It re-quires understanding of the role of marketing as being different in the short versus the long-terms, with strategic marketing and opera-tional marketing being two distinct activities Although branding is

as much art as science, it goes far beyond cute logos and sharp package designs It is a discipline that has the power to lead and influence; a discipline that belongs to the long-term strategy of an

organization Brand management therefore is the organizational

framework that systematically manages the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of the brand strategy This chapter addresses all fundamental branding basics and concepts that are relevant in B2B markets

Time

Company

Success

Branding Dimensions

B2B Branding

Decision

Acceleration Through Branding

Success Stories

Branding Pitfalls

Future Perspective

Fig 15 Guiding principle branding dimensions

The development of a holistic brand strategy has to involve all levels

of marketing management The active involvement of all other vant internal departments and external agencies is also necessary to create a better chance of success.2 Such a holistic perspective can moreover provide valuable insight into the process of capturing cus-

rele-tomer value For long-term success of a business it is indispensable to

continuously identify new value opportunities (value exploration), realize them in new and promising value offerings (value creation),

and last but not least to use capabilities and infrastructure to deliver

those new value offerings efficiently (value delivery).

Integrating the value exploration, value creation, and value delivery activities within a holistic marketing concept is an effective way of

building the basis for competitive advantage and long-term ability These value-based activities have to be put in the context of all relevant actors in the branding triangle (customers, company,

profit-and cooperators) By shifting the view from a fractional focus to an overall picture, a company can gain a superior value chain that de-livers high level of product quality, service, and speed The objec-tive is to generate profitable growth by increasing customer share, building customer loyalty, and capturing customer lifetime value To take advantage of customer value more effectively also translates into mutually satisfying business relationships and co-prosperity among key stakeholders.3

Holistic marketers achieve profitable growth by expanding

cus-tomer share, building cuscus-tomer loyalty, and capturing cuscus-tomer tween relevant actors (customers, company, and collaborators) and value-based actives In order to create and maintain the sustainable competitive advantage offered by the brand, companies need to concentrate their resources, structure and financial accountability around this most important asset

be-An efficient branding strategy for a company consequently fies which brand elements are useful in bringing your brand mes-sage to the aimed target group But before you can slam your foot

identi-on the branding accelerator it is important to create a propositiidenti-on that your product or service delivers on, time and time again

How Brands Create Value in B2B

A strong brand is about building and maintaining strong tions in the minds of customers In order to attach a certain value to

percep-a brpercep-and, you need to know percep-at first whpercep-at vpercep-alues percep-are percep-alrepercep-ady seen in that brand The brand name and its associations are a shorthand for everything that is being offered The product quality, the reliability

of delivery, the value for money, are all wrapped up in people’s perceptions of that brand Working out what people associate with

a brand is only one part of the equation It is necessary to go a step further and put a monetary figure on those brand values.4 Even the

best advertising cannot create something that is not there If a

company lacks soul or heart, if it doesn’t understand the concept of

“brand”, or if it is disconnected from the world around it, there is little chance that its marketing will resonate deeply with anyone.5

It is also about understanding how consumers perceive every pect of what the organization does Branding must be consistent and clear in order to really be meaningful Wordy corporate objec-tives alone with some logo-twiddling definitely do not make a brand Moreover, brands are not static but rather always evolving

as-They can change according to stakeholder expectations and market conditions whether you see it coming or not It is important to

manage that evolution, unexpected or expected, rather than to ply let it happen to you

sim-In order to establish an effective branding approach, it is necessary

to track and measure the strength of the current brand and the tire brand portfolio To grasp the business landscape in more depth,

en-it is essential to do some research that can later serve as the tion of the future brand strategy Modern research tools are easy to

founda-employ and at the same time very sophisticated but if a company wants to get a market and customer driven perspective of its brand portfolio it cannot get around this All the information has to be evaluated carefully and all factors taken into consideration.6

Take three brands of computers – Dell, Sony and IBM – basically

do-ing the same thdo-ing However, prospective buyers may see one ing for flexibility, another for innovation and yet another for quality All of them possess all three values but the high ground for each value is occupied by just one of the companies This provides them

stand-with the opportunity for gaining a competitive advantage Although

this may be self evident, too few industrial companies have strategic plans for managing their company brand to reach this level

Very few companies have a brand essence that is reflected in every thing they do This is not always easy Inside the company some people will suggest values or a position that is future oriented while others will want something that is more reflective of the here and now Some will want a complicated essence while others will try to find simplicity Some will be happy to run with internal opinion while others will insist on an independent external view A com-pany that gets this wrong will lose its single most important differ-entiating opportunity.7

In a world where everything increasingly looks the same, brands

are one of the few opportunities for making a difference So what is

brand equity? The concept of brand equity generally is meant to capture the value of a brand According to Anderson and Narus it can be reflected in various preferential action or responses of cus-tomers:8

x Greater willingness to try a product or service

x Less time needed to close the sale of an offering

x Greater likelihood that the product or service is purchased x Willingness to award a larger share of purchase requirement x Willingness to pay a price premium

x Less sensitive in regard to price increases

x Less inducement to try a competitive offering

Different definitions of brand equity also exist Duane E Knapp for

instance defines I t as “the totality of the brand’s perception,

includ-ing the relative quality of products and services, financial ance, customer loyalty, satisfaction, and overall esteem toward the

perform-brand.”9 According to Aaker, brand equity refers to “the assets (or

liabilities) linked to a brand’s name and symbol that add to (or tract from) a product or service.”10

sub-Whether you define it in common terms or use a technical or even mathematical approach in defining brand equity, they will both end

up meaning the same Drivers of brand equity can be summarized

Of course it is unquestioned that the perceived quality of a product

is an essential value driver Name awareness is quite important, too, but shouldn’t be over-estimated as we will show in chapter six

Brand associations are generally everything that connects the

cus-tomer to the brand, including user imagery, product attributes, use situations, brand personality, and symbols The most important driver of brand equity though is brand loyalty.11

In order to create a holistic brand strategy you must also strive for complete alignment between what you’re promising outside and the reality of what you’re delivering within the organization The

brand strategy has to match the corporate strategy If there are any

misalignments or chinks, it will soon be spotted, first by employees, then by consumers

One thing of crucial importance if not even the most significant

thing in B2B brand management is: consistency Let’s have a look at

the example of digital imaging: Publishers, advertisers, tions They all have valuable digital assets that are part and parcel

corpora-to their business An image originally used in print can, technically,

be used equally well on TV, the Web, or a DVD Unfortunately however, many corporate publishers are forced to reinvent the graphics wheel every time they move a brand to a new medium

Make a Consistent Impression

As noted earlier, brands are a set of expectations and associations evoked from experience with a company, or product or service – how customers think and feel about what the business or offer does for them To that end, brands are built from the customer’s entire experience with a company, its products and services, word of mouth, interactions with company personnel, online or telephone experiences, and payment transactions, not just marketing efforts

Therefore it is entirely natural that brand building concerns every

single touch point In order to leverage a brand it is indispensable to know all of the brand’s touch points with the customer, ranging from call centers to the direct sales people.12

Whether you call it touch points, points of interaction or brand

con-tacts, they can be summarized as any information-bearing ence a customer or prospective customer has with a brand.13 This also underscores how a brand’s influence extends well beyond the marketing department and into all corners of the organization The brand must be embraced as key strategic business asset that needs

experi-to be protected, nurtured and built over time To internalize the concept of “brand” as a promise to your customers means that you have to consistently deliver on that promise on and on again, across

every point of touch An effective brand promise needs to be

clearly defined, relevant and meaningful, not to be mistaken with exaggerated marketing promises You have to continuously deliver

on your brand promise and provide a consistent impression across every point of touch Or as Kevin Roberts, author of the book “Love-marks” puts it:14

“Perform, perform, perform

Respect grows only out of performance

Performance at each and every point of interaction.”

To assure a consistent impression, a holistic branding approach needs to be implemented and executed at every single point of touch This means that you have to know them all This is especially important in the service sector where the companies tend to have

more direct contact to customers than in other business sectors

Thousands of employees need to behave in accordance with the brand and its promise To control every single point of interaction a

stakeholder may have with the brand is quite a challenging task Yet, there are many businesses that prove by their excellent brand-ing strategies and implementation that it is possible to provide that

consistent impression FedEx, for instance is doing a great job in this

respect So, what is meant by “everything” touch? Figure 16 shows the brand customer relationship from the pre-selection phase to on-going relationship

Products and Services Networking

Word of Mouth

Pre-Selection

Ongoing Relationship

& Referral

Purchase &

Usage Experience Publicity Advertising PR/

Sales Representative Performance Product

Fig 16 The brand customer relationship

The control of all possible touchpoints of the brand customer

rela-tionship does not imply that these touchpoints should be kept as clear and concise as possible To work closely with your customers, pushing forward the customer supplier relationship towards a stra-

tegic partnership is recommendable in almost any business

Cater-pillar provides an excellent example of a company that extends its

relationships with customers to produce maximum benefits for

both parties CAT engineers work closely with OEM, providing

them with the information on all factory-applied coatings of all types of the construction equipment This reduces development time, tooling and production costs At the same time, it increases the performance of CAT products The result is a successful combi-nation of iron and electronics in machine produced by CAT pro-duced machines that make them powerful and productive

3.1 Brand Distinction

Brand Architecture

A brand strategy can be generally defined as the choice of common and distinctive brand elements a company applies across the vari-ous products and services it sells and the company itself It reflects the number and nature of new and existing brand elements while at the same time guiding decisions on how to brand new products.15

To put it in other words, the brand strategy lays out a future image for the company to aim for, providing a plan of action and criteria against which to judge it It is based on certain future goals Among

others the most common goals related to the customers are to crease brand awareness, create a positive brand image, and to es-

in-tablish brand preferences and brand loyalty The brand strategy also aims at increasing the appeal and attraction of the company in the eyes of the stakeholders, who underpin the management of the company, and to give the employees criteria with which to judge the value of their own actions

The strategic branding options in B2B markets are generally the same

as those in their consumer markets The branding strategy in general

can be defined as the choice of common and distinctive brand ments a company applies across its various products and services it

ele-sells and the company itself It reflects the number and nature of new and existing brand elements, guiding decisions on how to brand new products To structure and manage their portfolio of brands is one of the biggest challenges businesses face nowadays

To develop a company-owned brand architecture is essential since

it defines the relationship between brands, the corporate entity, and